It seems like only yesterday, but Mac and Jack’s Brewery is about to turn 30. Big party planned this summer.
It was the 90s. Life was as simple as a pair of 501 jeans and a flannel shirt.
For me, it’s a marker in time. I remember exactly where I was and who I was with when I drank my first pint of Mac and Jack’s beer. I was at a patio party at Grazie Ristorante, the long-since-closed location in Bellevue. It wasn’t a fancy affair, which is good because my hair was impossibly long and I was probably wearing the aforementioned 501 jeans and flannel shirt.
Mac himself poured that first pint for me from a red and white jockey box. I liked it. I remember thinking that it tasted like a hoppier version of Alaskan Amber, which is what all the cool kids were drinking in those days. We talked about beer and brewing. I shook my head in confusion when Mac told me the brewery was in a garage at his buddy’s house. It was the 90s. Life was simple.
They marketed and sold the beer themselves. They delivered the kegs themselves. It literally was Mac and Jack’s brewery. Eventually, much to the delight of Jack’s wife, they moved the brewery out of the garage and into a proper commercial space. They hired an energetic, young whippersnapper named Manny to help sell the beer. That worked very well and before long Mac and Jack’s African Amber was ubiquitous around the Greater Seattle Area.
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Do you fully comprehend what a big deal that was? Sports bars, dive bars, and restaurants were pouring craft beer. Places that had never dipped a toe in the water were now pouring Mac and Jack’s African Amber. It paved the way. Changed the game.
Manny is not the only Mac and Jack’s alumni, though his name is the most recognizable and his impact on the success of the brand is incontrovertible. Along with good beer, perhaps the greatest gift Mac and Jack’s Brewery has given the world is a roster of brewers and brewery owners whose roots trace back to the Redmond-based brewery. I’d guess there are dozens of them.
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Last year, Mac and Jack sold the brewery. Not to a big multi-national beer company, but to another local company. I shared that story here on the blog, not only because it was newsworthy but because it made me happy. After so many years, Mac and Jack were able to move on. We all want to do that at some point, right? Mac and Jack found a pathway that led to the next stage of their lives AND they found a way for the brand they built to live on. The brewery is now owned by Ackley Brands, a family-based, PNW-based company that owns some local wineries and now a brewery.
Mac and Jack’s Brewery is planning its 30th anniversary party. It is scheduled for August 31st, so this is something of an early, distant warning; however, since it is a ticketed affair, securing your spot now is not a bad idea. This is a huge milestone for a very popular brewery. The soiree will include live music, free swag, lawn games, food trucks, and the first-ever Mac & Jack’s 0.2k Fun Run. You can learn more about the event and secure your tickets here.
